Comic Opera in Three Acts, 2006
Duration: 96 minutes
Concept:
The Loathly Lady is an original comic work in three acts, conceived at the cusp between opera and musical theater.
The plot is based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” (c. 1400), in which a cruel knight must discover what women want most. The Loathly Lady’s knight meets a series of opinionated characters in the course of his questing—Sigmund Freud, Jane Austen’s Emma, Sheherezade, Virginia Woolf, Shakespeare’s Titania, the Lady of Shalott.
When the knight is in his own medieval world, the music evokes the Ars Nova idioms of Chaucer’s day. When the knight encounters characters from other periods and cultures, the idioms shift accordingly.
In this comedy of male-female misunderstanding, magic and science come to blows in the figures of Merlin and Freud. Can we speak to each other across the gulfs of time and gender and world view?
The answer is “perhaps,” and the process of finding out, we hope, will be a feast for the ears, the mind, and the heart.
Dramatic Personae
Knight
Baritone
Maiden/Elf Queen/Lady of Shalott/Loathly Lady
Soprano
Queen Guenevere
Mezzo-Soprano
2 Ladies-in-Waiting
Sopranos
Merlin
Counter-Tenor
Sigmund Freud
Tenor
Titania
Soprano
Oberon
Bass-Baritone
Sheherazade
Soprano
Emma Woodhouse
Mezzo-Soprano
Eliza Doolittle
Soprano
Virginia Woolf
Soprano
Prologue/Echo
Female Chorus (SSA) or 3 soli (optional)
Changeling Child, Courtiers, Supernatural Creatures
Optional non-singing roles
Instrumental Ensemble
2 Flutes (player 1 doubling piccolo)
Oboe/English Horn
Clarinet in Bb
Bassoon
Trumpet in C
Trombone
Piano/Keyboard
Guitar
2 Percussion
Violin
Viola
‘Cello
Also available for piano/vocal performance.
Optional Period Instrument Ensemble
Flute/Baroque Flute
Recorder 1 (sopranino, soprano, alto recorders)
Recorder 2 (alto, tenor, great bass recorders)
Clarinet in Bb/Classical Clarinet in Bb
Reed 1 (soprano shawm, soprano crumhorn, alto crumhorn, tenor shawm)
Reed 2 (soprano shawm, soprano crumhorn, alto shawm, tenor shawm, bass dulcian,
bass rackett)
Bassoon/Baroque Bassoon
Trumpet in C
Treble Cornetto
Sackbut
Positive Organ/Harpsichord/Fortepiano/Piano
Archlute/Cittern
Percussion 1 (tambourine, vibraslap, nakers, bass drum (shared with player 2))
Percussion 2 (tambourine, vibraslap, tabor, metal wind chimes, large suspended cymbal,
chimes, bass drum (shared with player 1))
Violin
Rebec
Viola
Vielle
Treble Viol
Tenor Viol
2 Bass Viols
‘Cello
Contact Paul Richards for details about possible cast doublings and instrument substitution.
For additional information, and additional video and audio samples, please visit: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~wsteiner/loathlylady.htm